3 more sentenced in federal Wax House investigation

Three more people have been sentenced as part of a long-running federal investigation into a mortgage and investment fraud operation that affected the Charlotte region.

Nathan Shane Wolf, 44, and John Wayne Perry Jr., 34, both of Charlotte, were sentenced this week, Jill Westmoreland Rose, the acting U.S. attorney in Charlotte, announced Thursday. A third participant in the scheme, Purnell Wood, 44, was sentenced July 31, Rose said.

The three are the latest to be sentenced in the Operation Wax House probe, which began in 2007. The sprawling investigation has centered on a $75 million scheme that spanned Mecklenburg and Union counties. A total of 91 people have been charged, of whom 89 have pleaded guilty or been convicted, while two remain international fugitives.

The latest three to be sentenced worked in the enterprise’s mortgage fraud operations, according to prosecutors.

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Wolf, a licensed real estate agent, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Prosecutors said Wolf arranged for builders to pretend to sell luxury real estate at an inflated price in order to get inflated mortgage loans from a bank. Wolf then arranged for the difference between the inflated price and the true price to be paid from loan proceeds as kickbacks, according to prosecutors.

Wolf accounted for more than $13 million in fraudulently obtained loans and was paid $200,000 in commissions for the fraudulent transactions, according to prosecutors.

Perry, who was sentenced to 24 months in prison, arranged a fraudulent transaction that resulted in a loss of about $500,000, prosecutors said. More than $200,000 in kickbacks were funneled through Perry’s bank account, according to prosecutors.

Wood, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison, arranged two mortgage fraud transactions that had losses of more than $1.5 million, prosecutors said. Nearly $500,000 in kickbacks were funneled through his sham company following closing, according to prosecutors.